Robot CyberCars Considered for Antibes

According to a recent Time
Europe article, the town of Antibes on the French Riviera is
considering a fleet of autonomous robot cars called CyCabs to help move the many
visitors to their town around the cramped streets. Each CyCab
autonomously follows preprogrammed routes, using laser sensors to detect
and avoid obstacles. Unlike other automated cars now in service in other
parts of Europe, the CyCab doesn't need to follow embedded street
markers. During a public
test in June, 3,000 people got to try out the cars. The lack of a
steering wheel made some people nervous initially but it appears they
began to trust the technology pretty quickly. The CyCab is one of many
CyberCar prototypes being developed by a consortium of European nations
working to reinvent the automobile. For more, see the MPEG videos of
the cars demonstrating obstacle avoidance and traffic negotiation.